John Chrysostom, Speech on the Meeting

Oratio de hypapante

Of our father among the saints John Chrysostom, archbishop of Constantinople, a discourse on the presentation of our Lord Jesus Christ, spoken in Antioch, containing at the end a very profitable moral. Father, bless.

Bright for us today is the spectacle and more brilliant than usual the assembly; what then is the reason? Whenever we interpret the evangelical sayings, the church becomes full with the multitude of listeners; for indeed, beloved, when a virgin is evangelized, then the salvation of the world comes to be. But since some have murmured about what was just read, asking why we now addressed that which does not pertain to the present festival, I beseech your love to be guided by the decrees of the priesthood, and to doubt nothing of what is decreed by the fathers. But since the sheep resist the shepherds, it is right for us to establish the time when Simeon received the Lord.

But attend to me with all accuracy; for I wish to make the teaching clearer, so that what is said may be easy to survey for the listeners. Therefore, the blessed virgin, the Theotokos Mary, gave birth to the Lord in the month of December, as we convinced all the objectors in Antioch when we were explaining to you the conception of the Forerunner and the silence of Zacharias, as the diligent students of the scriptures remember, when we also brought forth old testimonies agreeing with the evangelical words. Count, therefore, from the birth of Christ until now, how many days there are; that is from the twenty-fifth 58 of the month of December until now; complete seven days of December, counting also the very day when the virgin gave birth, and thirty-one of January, and two of this present month, and they become forty days.

Since, therefore, the Lord came, incarnate of the holy virgin, He hastened in his own flesh to take up the law, that he might give it fulfillment and so begin to bestow the gifts of grace. For this truly belongs to the all-wise economy of the Lord, to take up the commands of the law in his own flesh, that he might show the law to be a type and shadow of the spirit and of grace. And that the law proclaimed all things prophetically, hear Paul saying: "the law is spiritual," and again: "the law has become our tutor unto Christ." Since, therefore, Christ, as has been said before, hastened to do all the things of the law, that he might give an end to the law and begin to bestow the gifts of grace, having shown the law to be a type and shadow of the true realities of grace, let us hear the law itself crying out: "For the Lord spoke," it says, "to Moses, saying: If a woman shall conceive seed and bear a son, she shall be unclean for seven days; and on the eighth day the child shall have the flesh of his foreskin circumcised, and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying thirty-three days." Therefore the day on which the infant may be circumcised is one of the thirty-three days. Count therefore seven days of uncleanness, and thirty-three of purification, and they become forty days; behold therefore, until today from the twenty-fifth of the month of December there are forty days. Since therefore we have convinced your love concerning the number of the days and the nature of the law, let us come to Simeon, who walks on the earth and dances with angels. If still

Oratio de hypapante

Τοῦ ἐν ἁγίοις πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἰωάννου ἀρχιεπισκόπου Κωνσταντινουπόλεως τοῦ Χρυσοστόμου λόγος εἰς τὴν ὑπαπαντὴν τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, λεχθεὶς ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ, περιέχων ἐν τῷ

τέλει ἠθικὸν πάνυ ὠφέλιμον. Πάτερ εὐλόγησον.

Φαιδρὸν ἡμῖν τήμερον τὸ θέατρον καὶ λαμπρότερος τοῦ συνήθους ὁ σύλλογος· τί ποτε ἄρα τὸ αἴτιον; ὅταν τὰς εὐαγγελικὰς ἑρμηνεύωμεν ῥήσεις, μεστὴ γίνεται ἡ ἐκκλησία τῷ πλήθει τῶν ἀκροατῶν· καὶ γάρ, ἀγαπητοί, ὅταν παρθένος εὐαγγελίζεται, τότε τῆς οἰκουμένης σωτηρία γίνεται. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδή τινες ἐθρύλησαν περὶ τοῦ ἀρτίως ἀναγνωσθέντος, ὅτι διατί τὸ μὴ συντεῖνον εἰς τὴν παροῦσαν πανήγυριν νῦν προσεφωνήσαμεν, παρακαλῶ τὴν ὑμετέραν ἀγάπην τοῖς θεσπίσμασι τῆς ἱερωσύνης ἄγεσθαι, καὶ μηδὲν ἀμφιβάλλειν τῶν παρὰ τῶν πατέρων θεσπιζομένων. Ἐπεὶ δὲ τὰ πρόβατα τοῖς ποιμέσιν ἀνθίστανται, δίκαιόν ἐστιν ἡμᾶς παραστῆσαι τὸν χρόνον, ὅτε Συμεὼν τὸν Κύριον ὑπεδέξατο.

Ἀλλὰ προσέχετέ μοι μετὰ πάσης ἀκριβείας· βούλομαι γὰρ σαφεστέραν τὴν διδασκαλίαν ποιῆσαι, ἵνα εὐσύνοπτα ᾖ τοῖς ἀκροαταῖς τὰ λεγόμενα. Ἡ οὖν μακαρία παρθένος ἡ θεοστόκος Μαρία τῷ δεκεμβρίῳ μηνὶ τέτοκε τὸν Κύριον, καθὼς ἀπεπείσαμεν ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ πάντας τοὺς ἀντιλέγοντας ὅτε τὴν τοῦ Προδρόμου σύλληψιν καὶ τὴν τοῦ Ζαχαρίου σιωπὴν ὑμῖν ἐξηγούμεθα, καθὼς μέμνηνται οἱ φιλόπονοι τῶν γραφῶν, ὅτε καὶ παλαιὰς μαρτυρίας εἰς μέσον ἠγάγομεν συμφωνούσας τοῖς εὐαγγελικοῖς ῥήμασιν. Ἀρίθμησον τοίνυν ἀπὸ τῆς Χριστοῦ γεννήσεως μέχρι τοῦ νῦν, πόσαι ἡμέραι τυγχάνουσι· τουτέστιν ἀπὸ εἰκάδος πεμπτῆς 58 τοῦ δεκεμβρίου μηνὸς μεχρὶ τῆς δεῦρο· τοῦ δεκεμβρίου ἀναπλήρωσον ἡμέρας ἑπτά, συμμετρῶν καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν ἡμέραν ὅτε ἡ παρθένος τέτοκε, καὶ τριάκοντα καὶ μίαν τοῦ ἰαννουαρίου, καὶ δύο τούτου τοῦ ἐνεστῶτος μηνός, καὶ γίνονται ἡμέραι τεσσαράκοντα.

Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἦλθεν ὁ Κύριος σαρκωθεὶς ἐκ τῆς ἁγίας παρθένου, ἐσπούδασεν ἐν τῇ ἰδίᾳ σαρκὶ ἀναδέξασθαι τὸν νόμον, ἵνα πλήρωμα δῷ αὐτὸν καὶ οὕτως τῆς χάριτος ἄρξηται διδόναι τὰς δωρεάς. Καὶ γὰρ τοῦτο ἀληθῶς τῆς πανσόφου ἐστὶν οἰκονομίας τοῦ Κυρίου, ἀναδέξασθαι τὰ τοῦ νόμου κελεύσματα ἐν τῇ οἰκείᾳ σαρκί, ἵνα δείξῃ τὸν νόμον τύπον καὶ σκιὰν τοῦ πνεύματος καὶ τῆς χάριτος. Καὶ ὅτι ἅπαντα προφητικῶς ὁ νόμος ἐκήρυττεν, ἄκουσον τοῦ Παύλου λέγοντος· "ὁ νόμος πνευματικός ἐστι", καὶ πάλιν· "ὁ νόμος παιδαγωγὸς ἡμῶν γέγονεν εἰς Χριστόν". Ἐπεὶ οὖν ὁ Χριστὸς, καθὼς προείρηται, πάντα τὰ τοῦ νόμου ἐσπούδαζε ποιῆσαι, ἵνα δῷ τέλος τῷ νόμῳ καὶ ἄρξηται τῆς χάριτος διδόναι τὰς δωρεάς, δείξας τε τὸν νόμον τύπον καὶ σκιὰν εἶναι αὐτὸν τῶν ἀληθινῶν πραγμάτων τῆς χάριτος, ἀκούσωμεν αὐτοῦ τοῦ νόμου βοῶντος· "Ἐλάλησε γὰρ Κύριος" φησι, "τῷ Μωσεῖ λέγων· γυνή τις ἐὰν σπερματισθῇ κοίτην σπέρματος καὶ τέκῃ υἱόν, ἀκάθαρτος ἔσται ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας· καὶ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ὀγδόῃ περιτεμεῖ τὸ παιδίον τὴν σάρκα τῆς ἀκροβυστίας αὐτοῦ, καὶ καθίσεται ἐν αἵματι καὶ καθαρῷ αὐτῆς τριάκοντα καὶ τρεῖς ἡμέρας", Ἡ οὖν ἡμέρα ἐν ᾗ ἔξεστι περιτμηθῆναι τὸ βρέφος μία ἐστὶ τῶν τριάκοντα τριῶν ἡμερῶν. Ἀρίθμησον οὖν ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας τῆς ἀκαθαρσίας, καὶ τριάκοντα τρεῖς τῆς καθάρσεως, καὶ γίνονται τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέραι· ἰδοὺ οὖν μέχρι τῆς σήμερον ἀπὸ εἰκάδος πέμπτης τοῦ δεκεμβρίου μηνὸς τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέραι εἰσίν. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἀπεπείσαμεν τὴν ὑμετέραν ἀγάπην περὶ τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ τῶν ἡμερῶν καὶ τῆς τοῦ νόμου φύσεως, ἐλευσώμεθα εἰς τὸν Συμεὼν τὸν ἐπὶ γῆς βαδίζοντα καὶ μετὰ ἀγγέλων χορεύοντα. Ἐὰν δὲ ἀκμὴν